Virat Kohli credits Ravi Shastri for helping him grow as a captain
"He's someone who has never tried to change me."
Indian captain Virat Kohli recently scaled a height that none of his predecessors has ever done: winning a Test series on Australian soil. The 2-1 win has also brought Kohli close to becoming the most successful captain for India in Tests. Having led his country in 46 Tests so far, the 30-year-old has won 26 of them at a success rate of 56.52. He is just one win short of touching MS Dhoni, the most successful till now with 27 wins from 60 games.
Kohli have so far remained unbeaten as a captain in the ongoing tour Down Under – a feat again which no Indian skipper before him has managed to do. India drew Australia 1-1 in the T20Is and after winning the Test series, they are tied 1-1 in the ODI series as well with one game to go in Melbourne on January 18. A win there will also see captain Kohli winning the first-ever bilateral ODI series in Australia.
Kohli has credited head coach Ravi Shastri for helping him develop as a captain. The ace batsman had first led India in a Test series in Australia as a stop-gap skipper in 2014-15 and then took up as a full-fledged captain from the tour of Sri Lanka in 2015. India won that series 2-1 after losing the first game. They went on to beat the Windies, Sri Lanka (in 2017 again) and now Australia in overseas series.
Kohli though lost the Test series as captain in South Africa and England. He, however, said that Shastri never tried to change him as a person. “Because he (Shastri) has done so much commentary, and he’s seen the game so much and has played so much himself – just watching the game – he knows where the game is heading,” NDTV Sports reported about Kohli as saying.
“So just getting feedback from him constantly has been the biggest help for me, in terms of moulding my own personality into captaincy. He’s someone who has never tried to change me just to be able to fit into the captaincy mode.”
Kohli has to cover some distance yet to be India’s best captain in limited overs
In the ODI format, Kohli has led India in 59 games with 43 wins and though he has to cover some distance to better the record of Dhoni (110 wins) in this format, the former’s winning percentage (75) is the best among captains who have led in minimum of nine matches.
In the T20I version, Kohli has led India in 20 games with 12 wins and seven losses while one game was inconclusive. In this format too, Dhoni is the table topper with 41 wins and 28 losses in 72 games.
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